Stream Videos to PS3: PlayOn Impressions

The PS3 is more than just a gaming machine, it’s an entire media hub. The fellows over at MediaMall Technologies have enabled PS3 owners to access the best videos of the internet through a nifty download called PlayOn. Users are able to access YouTube, CNN, ESPN, CBS, Nexflix, and the ever popular Hulu; all directly from the XMB.

Setup is a breeze and if you want to get in on the action, here’s what you need to do:

Visit the PlayOn product page and click on the link to download the PlayOn Beta to enter your information.

After submitting your info, the download will begin and simply run the .exe file when complete.

Follow the onscreen instructions and once the installation is complete, you are ready to watch your favorite videos on your PS3.

Once setup, there are many options you can configure to your liking including video quality, performance speed, as well as manage your accounts for Netflix and YouTube with Hulu coming soon. In order to access PlayOn from the XMB you must be running the program from your PC and be connected to the same network as the PS3. That’s about it. It’s really easy and simple.

In my experience with PlayOn, I found it to be quite successfull. It is recommended that you have an online bandwidth of at least 1.5-2.0 MB along with 4-5 GB of free HDD space, 512 MB RAM, and a processor speed of 1.5 GHz. Now, my computer wasn’t up to the highest quality of specs but they were good enough to stream shows of How I Met Your MotherÂ and Family Guy. They quality of the videos was surprisingly decent, almost like you were watching it directly off television. Obviously for the best quality to run smoothly, you need to have the best specs.

I found there was occasional lag during show when loading and during streaming.Â Sometimes I would find videos that had corrupted data or wouldn’t load at all.Â This was more apparent with Hulu than the other video channels. Hulu would lock up at different points during the video and I would need to exit the video before I could do anything else. CBS gave the best quality overall with little lag but Hulu has a better selection of videos.Â

Since PlayOn is still in its beta phase (at least that’s what MediaMall Technologies is calling it) there are still a few bugs but it’s definitely worth a look at, especially since the only method of streaming Hulu to the PS3 that I’ve found. Â After your free trial, you are can purchase PlayOn for a one time fee of $30. Not too bad a price but with my current settings, I don’t think it’s worth it, especially when I can just watch Hulu directly from my PC.Â

If you’d like to learn more about PlayOn or other MediaMall Technologies products, you can check out their webpage here.